With You In Your Dreams
by aplaceinthestars
Summary: (Massive spoiler-age for SbS) Songfic. Tahiri gets a chance to tell him everything she couldn't before...


Disclaimers: Star Wars = Not mine. "With You In Your Dreams" = Also not mine.  
  
Tahiri lay awake in bed. Another night, she thought to herself. Another night alone.  
  
The Yuuzhan Vong had been conquered for nearly three months. The passive universe seemed to Tahiri to be only a mockery of the reign of horror and death brought down only months before. All was not well. No amount of peace would change the past. People were dead.  
  
Anakin was dead.  
  
Tahiri sat up. She looked at the tiny holo of Anakin's smiling face on her nightstand. Haunting ice blue eyes gazed back at her. This is all I have, she thought to herself. I'll never see him again. She reached out and traced a finger down the face in the picture. She swallowed hard, finally giving in to her agony. Tears streamed down her face. She laughed humorlessly. What would Anakin say if he saw her like this?  
  
~*If I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry. If I'm gone when you wake up, it's not goodbye. Don't look back at this time as a time of heartbreak and distress. Remember me; remember me, 'cause I'll be with you in your dreams.*~  
  
She tried desperately to wipe away the tears. But how could she help crying? Anakin had been her best friend.and maybe even more than that. And now she could only wonder how much of her true feelings he had known, how well he had really known her.  
  
~*Oh, I'll be with you. If I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry. If I'm gone when you wake up, don't ask why. Don't look back at this time as a time of heartbreak and distress. Remember me; remember me-I'll be with you in your dreams.*~  
  
"Oh, Anakin." She whispered aloud. "I never got to tell you."  
  
~*Don't cry, I'm with you; don't cry, I'm by your side.*~  
  
"Tahiri."  
  
She started. She couldn't have really heard that. How she'd been longing to hear that sweet voice for so long.  
  
"Tahiri?"  
  
There it was again: a voice, calling her-unmistakably Anakin's. "Anakin?" She whispered hopefully. "Anakin, I hear you.I think." She gasped. The air at the foot of her bed shimmered slightly. Before her stood an ethereal figure, ghostly, but more beautiful than anything Tahiri had ever see. Anakin.  
  
~*Don't cry, I'm with you; don't cry, I'm by your side.*~  
  
Anakin looked as surprised as Tahiri. "It worked," he muttered. He looked up at Tahiri and smiled broadly. The smile quickly faded. "Tahiri Veila-crying? Couldn't be." He shook his head, creating an odd trail of light.  
  
Tahiri's mouth dropped open. "Are you really.here?"  
  
"Sort of," Anakin said. "I can't be here long, and of course.well, this is all the me there is." He shrugged.  
  
~*And though my flesh is gone, I'll still be with you at all times.*~  
  
Tears started falling from Tahiri's eyes again. "No, no, no!" Anakin exclaimed. "Don't cry, please. I hate seeing you cry."  
  
Tahiri did her best to restrain another outburst. "I.I miss you so much." She managed, though her voice was choked with sadness.  
  
"Don't say that," Anakin chided. "You know I'll always be with you."  
  
~*And though my body is gone, I'll be there to comfort you at all times.*~  
  
"But there's so much more we had to do! I.I always thought." Tahiri trailed off miserably.  
  
Anakin shook his head again. "I'll always love you, Tahiri. And I'll always be there if you need me. Just because I can't be with you physically- " Here he flashed a playful smile. "-Which I will miss by the way-but I'll be in your heart forever.I hope." He gave her an inquisitive look.  
  
"Of course, Anakin. I love you so much." Tahiri almost hated herself for allowing the words to come out so easily only after Anakin was gone.  
  
Anakin looked at her. Tahiri couldn't quite read his expression. "I can't be here much longer, love." He said quietly.  
  
Love, Tahiri thought. If only one of us had had the insight to bring that word up sooner.  
  
~*If I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry. If I'm gone when you wake up, it's not goodbye. Don't look back at this time as a time of heartbreak and distress. Remember me; remember me, 'cause I'll be with you in your dreams.*~  
  
"I know, I know." Anakin said. His eerie form glided closer to Tahiri. "I have only one regret, only one thing I should have done while I was alive." He paused, looking into her eyes. "I never told you how much I love you." He rested a transparent hand on her cheek. Tahiri's eyes widened at the bizarre sensation. It wasn't quite the warmth and gentle pressure of a human hand; it was a perplexing feeling of being physically touched by Anakin's emotions.  
  
Anakin leaned forward. His face, gradually becoming less distinct, hovered just an inch from Tahiri's. "Listen to me, Tahiri. This is not a goodbye."  
  
~*I don't want you to cry and weep.*~  
  
"First of all, don't cry for me. Not much causes me real pain in this state, but seeing you cry does. It always has. So don't cry. There's nothing to mourn about any longer, all right?" Tahiri nodded solemnly.  
  
~*I want you to go on living your life.*~  
  
"Second, I want you to promise me two things."  
  
"Anything, Anakin."  
  
He looked deep into her eyes. "Please promise me that you'll always love me, and you'll never forget me. But don't say it unless you mean it. The choice is yours."  
  
Tahiri forced herself not to cry. She nodded. "I promise. I'll always love you, just like I always have-and I could never forget you."  
  
Anakin smiled slightly. "But you must promise me you'll go on living. You're beautiful, smart, loving.you have to find someone that's right for you, and make him the luckiest man in the galaxy."  
  
"But Anakin, you were so perfect for me! I always thought I'd be with you." She bit her lip. Maybe she shouldn't have told him.  
  
"Tahiri, I always wanted to be with you. But that can't happen now, and you have to move on. Promise me you'll find someone to love, someone to love you."  
  
"I will, Anakin."  
  
"But you'll never forget me? Never stop loving me?"  
  
"Never, Anakin."  
  
~*I'm not sleeping and endless sleep.*~  
  
"And don't think of me as 'gone'. That sounds like I've.abandoned you. I may be physically dead, but you keep me alive."  
  
~*'Cause in your heart you have all of our good times.*~  
  
"My spirit will live forever, Tahiri. You have memories-which may be the most precious thing you can have."  
  
Tahiri nodded. "I love you." She could think of nothing else to say.  
  
~*If I'm gone when you wake up, please don't cry. If I'm gone when you wake up, it's not goodbye. Don't look back at this time as a time of heartbreak and distress. Remember me; remember me, 'cause I'll be with you in your dreams.*~  
  
Anakin's second transparent hand rippled the bizarre sensation across Tahiri's other cheek. He leaned in. With a soft brush of ghostly lips, he sent a stronger feeling into Tahiri than any kiss in life could. The purest sense of love washed over her, as palpable as water. Anakin's fading form drifted back from her.  
  
"Never forget," He said. "And I'll always be with you."  
  
"It's not goodbye," Tahiri said, half to herself.  
  
"No," Anakin assured her. "I'll be in your heart." With these final words, he dissipated once again, leaving Tahiri by herself in her room, but far from alone.  
  
~*I'll be with you in your dreams.*~ 


End file.
